Biz Beat Blog

Area used-car prices could rise because of Hurricane Sandy

Used-car prices as far south as Dallas could rise because of Hurricane Sandy.

Thousands of vehicles were damaged in the East Coast storm, which will increase the demand for replacement cars and trucks.

If demand exceeds supply — as it likely will — East Coast dealers will look in other markets for additional supplies.

More than 600,000 cars and trucks had to be replaced after Hurricane Katrina and the number could be greater with Sandy because the East Coast is more densely populated, says Ricky Beggs, senior analyst at Black Book.

Most of the supplemental vehicles are likely to come from Florida,Texas and Ohio— large areas with significant supplies of used cars and trucks.

The market pressures could weigh heavily on used pickup trucks, a segment that was already tightening as the economy improved.

Small cars were the one segment that Beggs said is not feeling much supply pressure.

As manufacturers rush to build more small cars to meet tougher fuel-economy standards, the supply appears to be growing faster than demand for the vehicles.

Ray Zhou, director of analysis at Edmunds.com, thinks that used-vehicle prices could increase by $700 to $1,000 — mostly along the East Coast.

However, those price increases should be short lived if dealers and wholesalers are able to find adequate supplies of vehicles in other regions of the U.S.

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Daily breaking news alerts from the Business staff of The Dallas Morning News.